Certain appliances, such as refrigerator appliances, generally include an icemaker. In order to produce ice, liquid water is directed to the icemaker and frozen. After being frozen, ice may be stored within a storage bin within the appliance. In order to ensure ice is formed and/or remains in a frozen state, the icemaker and bin may be mounted within a chilled portion of the appliance. For instance, some conventional appliances provide an icemaker and storage bin within a freezer compartment. Other conventional appliances provide the icemaker and storage bin within a separate icebox compartment (e.g., within a door of the appliance). In order to maintain efficient operation, these conventional appliances generally provide an air circulation system to continuously circulate air within the icebox compartment with air within the freezer compartment.
Certain drawbacks exist with these conventional appliances. For instance, conventional appliances generally maintain the icemaker and the storage bin at the same temperature. Specifically, some such appliances circulate the same volume air over the icemaker and the storage bin. Ice within the storage bin is thus generally maintained at the same temperature as the icemaker. However, the low temperature demands of an icemaker are often much greater than the demands of a storage bin. As a result, the air within an icebox compartment is generally maintained at a significantly lower temperature than would otherwise be necessary or desirable for storing ice. Moreover, conventional appliances may require increased insulation about the icebox and storage bin to ensure the low temperatures of the icebox are maintained. In particular, the low temperatures of the icebox must typically be maintained in such a way that other portions of the appliance, such as a fresh food chamber, are not significantly influenced. These issues may cause the appliance to operate inefficiently, especially for ice making and ice storing operations. The increased need for insulation may also reduce the amount of available space for storage within the refrigerator appliance.
In addition to inefficient ice making and ice storing operations, conventional appliances may risk tainting the flavor or texture of ice being stored (e.g., in a storage bin). Foul or unpleasant odors (e.g., within a freezer) may be circulated to the icemaker and/or storage bin. Over time, the odors within may be absorbed by the ice within the icebox.
In turn, it would be advantageous to provide a refrigerator appliance having features for addressing one or more of the above-described drawbacks.